176 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



SPECIES I.— CARPI NUS BETULUS. Linn. 



Plate MCCXCIII. 



Belch. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XII. Tab. DCXXXII. Fig. 1296. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 460. 



Cupule deeply 3-lobed ; the central lobe twice or thrice as long as 

 the lateral ones, oblong, entire or remotely serrate. Limb of the 

 perianth with short ovate acute teeth. 



Var. a, genuina. 

 Leaves shortly acuminate. Lobes of the cupule entire. 



Var. 3, provincialis. Gay. 



Leaves scarcely acuminate. Middle lobe of the cupule with a few 

 larjre teeth on each side. 



In woods and hedges. Rather rare, and probably introduced in all its 

 stations, except those in the south of England. Mr. Baker does not 

 consider it native in Yorkshire, and in Scotland it certainly exists 

 only as a planted tree. In Ireland it is only to be found in planta- 

 tions. I have met with var. ^ in Plainault Forest, Essex, growing 

 with var. a. 



England, [Scotland, Ireland]. Tree. Spring, early Summer. 



A small tree with very smooth dull lead-coloured bark. Leaves 

 subdistichous, 2 to 3 inches long, oval or elliptical-oval, subcordate or 

 rounded at the base, generally acute or shortly acuminate, doubly 

 serrate, with the 'veins running straight from the midrib to the margin, 

 plicate, especially when young. Male flowers appearing with the 

 young leaves, from buds formed in the axils of the leaves on the wood 

 of the previous year; bud-scales lanceolate, the inner ones strapshaped. 

 Male catkins pendulous, 1 to 1^ inch long : catkin-scales simple, deltoid- 

 ovate, acuminate or subcuspidate, very concave : stamens attached to 

 the base of the scales ; anthers pale yellow, strongly bearded at the 

 apex. Female flowers appearing after the male, and terminating the 

 young shoot of the year. Fruit racemes pendulous, 2 to 4 inches long 

 or more; the middle lobe of the cupule at length 1 to 1^ inch long, 

 the lateral lobes much shorter. Nuts about \ inch long, greenish- 

 olive, shaped like a small chestnut, with 8 to 11 prominent longitudinal 

 ribs, crowned by the 3 to 8 minute teeth of the perianth. The leaves 

 are rather deep green, paler below, glabrous when mature, pilose when 

 young, and also on the veins beneath when old : they bear some 

 resemblance to those of the beech, but they are narrower, and con- 

 spicuously and very sharply doubly serrate, and the bud-scales are 



